Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, who claimed COVID-19 is 'blown totally way out of proportion', is charged with unlawful assembly.
"Shame on this pastor, their legal staff and the leaders of this staff for forcing us to do our job," Sheriff Chronister said.
"That's not what we wanted to do during a declared state of emergency. We are hopeful that this will be a wake-up call."In a statement, the pastor's legal representatives, Liberty Counsel, claimed the church enforced the six-foot distance rule between family groups, made sure staff wore gloves and gave every person who entered hand sanitiser, among other measures.
In a Facebook video posted on Sunday, Howard-Browne said"it looks like we're going to have to go to court over this because the church is encroached from every side". On March 18, the church called its ministry an essential service, similar to police and firefighters, and said it would keep its doors open.
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